Doug Dunphy, Wendy Samaroo and Rosetta Henderson sit together at Samaroo's Eddington home. 50 years after Samaroo was adopted, she is finally reunited with her birth family. The baby blanket Henderson made for her daughter is sitting on Samaroo's lap. (BDN photo/Emily Burnham)

Doug Dunphy, Wendy Samaroo and Rosetta Henderson sit together at Samaroo's Eddington home. 50 years after Samaroo was adopted, she is finally reunited with her birth family. The baby blanket Henderson made for her daughter is sitting on Samaroo's lap. (BDN photo/Emily Burnham)

After 50 years, a Maine family is finally reunited

Emily Burnham, BDN staff • November 26, 2017

Even as a little girl, Wendy Samaroo searched the faces of strangers.

Even as a little girl, Wendy Samaroo searched the faces of strangers.

“I would look at people, and think, ‘Could that be my mother? Is that my father?’” said Samaroo, 50, who was adopted by John and Carolyn Giberson of Fort Fairfield as a newborn. “They could have been right under my nose … Turns out, in a way, they were.”

After decades of fruitless searching and dealing with bureaucracy, inaccurate paperwork and one tossed-away letter, Samaroo last month finally found her birth parents.

Her mother, Rosetta Henderson, 66, lives in Fayette, just outside Augusta. Her father, Doug Dunphy, 68, lives in Hampden, barely 15 miles from Samaroo’s home in Eddington.

“It just feels like a gift from heaven. It feels like I’ve been given a second life,” said Samaroo. “Most people only get to have one set of parents. I get to have two.”

“It feels like there’s this big puzzle that you’ve worked on all your life, but there’s always been a piece missing, and you’ll never be complete without it,” said Henderson. “And then you can put that final piece in.”

The County is pleased to feature content from our sister company, Bangor Daily News. To read the rest of “After 50 years, a Maine family is finally reunited,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Emily Burnham,, please follow this link to the BDN online.

Get the Rest of the Story

Thank you for reading your 4 free articles this month. To continue
reading, and support local, rural journalism, please subscribe.